Railway track skate



'March 29, 1932.

M. B. CAMERON 1,851,347

RAILWAY TRACK SKATE Filed Oct. 14, 1951 INVENTOR.

# 2 ATTORNEY.

Patented @Mar. 29, 1932 UNETE B STATES MORTIMER. B. CAMERON", OF. EDG-EWOOD, IPENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE UNION" PATENT OFFICE-1 SWITCH & SIGNAL COMPANY,'OF"SWISSVALE,' PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF 1 PENNSYLVANIA RAILWAY TRACK SKATE Application filed October 14, 1931. Serial No. 568,775.

My invention relates to railway track skates, and has for an object the provision of a skate havinga tail portion which, will not break or bend out of shape during service, thereby providing a skate having a longer life than those in general use at the present time.

ing my invention, and will then point out the novel features thereof in claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Fig: 1 is a view showing in side elevation one form of skate embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the skateshown in Fig. 1.

Similar reference characters refer to similar parts in each of the views.

Referring to the drawings, the skate com prises a body portion'A, the under side of which is provided with a longitudinal recess 4 to receive a track rail R. This body portion is similar in all respects to the standard skate, except that it is cut off at 2', to form a stub end from which the upper surface3 eurvesupwardly to receive a car wheel. The.

" track rail R. The upper surface ofthe body portion A is preferably provided. with a longitudinal recess 6 extending inwardly from the stub end 2 to accommodate the tail B, so that the upper surface of the tail lies flush with the wheel-engaging surface 3 of the body member A. The tail B may be attached to the body member A by rive-ts 5.

When acar wheel rolls onto the skate, it first rolls up on the spring steel tail B, bending the tail downwardly and thereby anchor- I will describe one form of skate embodying the skate on the rail to prevent the skate from being kickedout from under the wheel. As the wheel progresses along the rail, it comes in contact with the skate surface 3, and

rolls upwardly thereon,'whereupon the tail B.

again assumes its original contour.

The standard skate in general use at the present. time, involves a cast steel body member which is tapered to a sharp edge at the entering or tail end. When askate of this kind, carrying a car wheel, passes over a rail joint at which one rail end is lower than the other, the tapered end of the skate is frequently bent upwardly, so that the skate is no longer suitable for use. Furthermore, this permanent distortion of the tapered end may sometimes take place when the skate is trav cling on a smooth rail if rail joints or splices are not rigid. When a skate embodying my invention passes over a rail joint of the kind just described, the body member drops down on the lower rail or goes up on: the higher rail, as the case may be, but there is no shearing force on the tail.. The only efiect is a bending or flexing of the spring steel tail between the pointof contact of the wheel and the free end of the tail; the tail immediately assumes its normalcontour as soon as the unequal joint has been passed. It follows that a skate embodying my invention has a very much longer life than a skate wherein the tail is formed by a tapered end of the cast steel body;

Although I have herein shown and 7 described only one form of skate embodying my invention, it is understood that various. changes and modifications may be made therein within the scope of the appended claims without departing from the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A railway track skate comprising a body portion having a stub end, and a thin spring.

steel tail having one end attached to the upper sc s5 surface of the stub end of said body portion and its other end resting on the track rail, the skate body being provided with a longitudinal recess to accommodate said tail so that the upper surface of the tail lies flush with the upper surface of the skate body.

2. A railway track skate comprising a body portion having a stub end, and a thin spring steel tail having one end attached to the upper surface of the stub end of said body portion and its otherfindimsting ontheztra'c-k'Tail.

In testimonywhereof I afiixan-ysigna'ture.

MORTIMER B. CAMERON. 

